House churches/Organic church, your opinion?

[Digging4Truth]

And to think that AB doesn't even appear to be able to see how rude, condescending and vindictive his remarks are. That's the amazing part... to me.

[shag]

I feel like the one of the most important things is, what our families are doing thruout day to day life to grow in Christ and fulfill His purpose individually, and each family as a whole. And then secondly wherever we choose to meet with other believers is not as important as long as we do so, to strengthen one another, and carry eachothers burdens, pray for eachother etc.

What really bothers me, is how places like where I attend go on and on and in about getting people to the house of God...it's not about getting people to a temple house of God, because the church people are the house of God in the nt according to scripture, and we are to reach the sinner thru displaying the-love of Christ to them in our daily lives. That takes time and effort, but it's the real deal. I like the house church setting also because all the man made rules to be a part of the ministries and to be on the platform (man made kingdom)is a stumbling block to the Kingdom of God as it robs people of ministry because they don't measure up to someone else's personal conviction of outer dress code etc.. To be a part of that man made kingdom is to hinder personal relationship with God by putting anothers mans convictions above ones own in order to be a part of their kingdom/local ministries of an assembly.
House church skips all that nonsense and allows folks to grow up thru bring Spirit led personally, and fullfiling Gods purpose in ministry without all the undcriptural man made rules to make THEIR team instead of set the bench. Plus, you get some dialogue in house church unlike institutional... Example: last night everyone sat and listened to their leader for an hour, they got to speak tho, cause about 20 people got to give an answer of what their favorite food was when asked, to compare "hunger for righteousness" with fleshly hunger.




Just set there and listen 3x a week, keep your mouth shut while the manna God mediates the message, and pay him 1/10 of your income and everything will be just fine.

[Truthseeker]

The church was birthed through house churches. How one can speak against it is beyond me.

[Aquila]

The Bible (I Corinthians 14:26-38) illustrates that our meetings should have the following elements and guiding principles:

- Everyone being able to bring a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.
- Gift of tongues coupled with interpretation, two or at most three.
- Two or three anointed teachers speak and guide the meeting.
- If a saint attending has a revelation or something to share, whoever is speaking must stop and give them the floor so that all might be able to prophesy, learn, and be encouraged. Meetings are to be discussion based.
- Those who address the group must realize that their spirits are subject to the anointed teachers guiding the group.
- Women (or anyone for that matter) are not to use the time for socializing.
- Those who think they are spiritual Christians should acknowledge that this order of service is a command from the Lord.

If our "form of church" will not allow for these kinds of meetings... we are failing to meet as the Apostle Paul admonished us to meet. It doesn't matter if it's in a house, a park, a coffee shop, a library, a book store, a bus stop, a town square, church building or wherever. The point is that the above elements should be present. They are to be elder guided and interactive meetings where anyone present can address the group by sharing a song, a hymn, a poem, a passage, a testimony, or whatever the Lord leads. If a meeting is too big to facilitate this, it fails to allow for the "body ministry" Paul admonishes us to have because it is a "command from the Lord" (I Corinthians 14:37).

For example, on any given Sunday when a given pastor is speaking... could I ask to speak and share a word that the Lord has placed on my heart? Could you in turn share what passage has been ministering to you and what the Lord put on your heart? If I had a question could I interrupt the pastor's sermon to seek an answer? Could the entire congregation do any of this? Or would the pastor be upset because he was interrupted and he didn't get to "preach a sermon"? Would there by too many people to allow for such an open and interactive meeting? Would we be relegated to being relatively passive spectators who hopefully learn something? If so... your church is most likely too big to abide by I Corinthians 14:26-38. I believe that home fellowship groups (or house churches) fulfill this calling of Scripture.

It's the BIBLICAL way to do church.

We've had house church (simple church) gatherings at coffee shops (Tim Horton's, Higher Grounds, and Boston Stoker's) in the Dayton Ohio, Tipp City area. Place and building don't matter. The fuction of our gatherings is what matters. Do our gatherings fulfill the BIBLICAL mandate regarding what we are supposed to do when we come together??? If the congregation is too big to do the above... it's too large.
Two questions:

1.) What do we do with these commandments from Scripture above? We're told that the Bible doesn't tell us how to conduct church, but that's incorrect. It does.

2.) In these massive churches... does the pastor know the names and families of the members... or are they merely faceless "members" providing revenue to keep the massive operation (including salaries) alive?

My house church elder knows all of us very intimately. Ryan knows our names, our struggles, our families, our dreams, our callings, our gifts, our children, how they are doing in school, how our marriages are doing, how our careers are doing, etc. You can't beat that. I've been to massive churches. I attended one of nearly 500 for a long time. I know what it's like to go to church and be lost in the crowd. I know what it's like to maybe know a hand full of people scattered throughout the crowd in a massive sanctuary where we're told we're "fellowshipping", watching the Sunday show.

After house churching regularly for over a year... I can testify that it can't be beaten if done right. No one is lost in the crowd. The intimacy is very close. There is transparency. Your gifts are discovered and used. Lives are shared. No one dies with their music still inside them.

House churches can be scary too. The elder can look at you and interrupt the meeting and ask, "Brother, you seem to be struggling. Is the problem a sin? C'mon, open up. Get it in the light. Let's talk about it as a body and get this thing off your chest so you can spiritually breathe." And then the entire group is transfixed on you, a few silently praying. Your sin gathers in your throat, you don't know if you can admit it out loud. But the Holy Ghost prompts you and it begins to pour out like a flowing river. The fellowship gathers around you and prayers are made for you, each speaking in turn. It's POWERFUL. No dressing up, finding a pew, and hiding the pain. You can't hide in a house church as easily as you can in a massive mega church.

[Nitehawk013]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

The church was birthed through house churches. How one can speak against it is beyond me.

This!

[Jay]

I will not claim the last word here, but many of the churches that are now the largest in Pentecost started out as either home or storefront churches. They grew as the need arose. My father started a home missions work, and for quite a while it was held in our home. I believe that it all depends on what is needed. I have seen pastors turn what should have been the living rooms in their home into the sanctuary, and lived in the back of the house. It all depends on what your goals are.

[ThePastorsCoach]

Just want to go on record that you house Organic meeting people have changed my mind. After thinking about this for a while, I have decided to try and find one of these house meetings or hmmm did you say "Organic" churches/fellowships/networks/gatherings/communes (people that worship in a house that was made to eat, sleep, bath and house and raise a family in) and send some people in our mega church (where God is not at because it is a building built and dedicated to Worship God in") to. I know several people that this would be a good fit for but they are the jumping, hollering, running around the building kind and it might be a bit small to run in - But I know some GOOD candidates for this and will encourage them to go and really get involved.
I AM FOR HOUSE Organic Oregano meetings & I think everyone there SHOULD NOT TITHE!

[Digging4Truth]

Originally Posted by Jay

I will not claim the last word here, but many of the churches that are now the largest in Pentecost started out as either home or storefront churches. They grew as the need arose. My father started a home missions work, and for quite a while it was held in our home. I believe that it all depends on what is needed. I have seen pastors turn what should have been the living rooms in their home into the sanctuary, and lived in the back of the house. It all depends on what your goals are.

As long as AB has an internet connection you won't be having the last word. Don't fret about that.

Generally in the house church mentality there is never a need to grow. Only a need to multiply. When the house churches reach a certain capacity you then take some of your best families and leaders and send them off to start another house church and they all continue to fellowship together and multiply out in similar manner.

These churches work closely together and get together all in one place from time to time to maintain good fellowship between the groups.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by AtlantaBishop

Just want to go on record that you house Organic meeting people have changed my mind. After thinking about this for a while, I have decided to try and find one of these house meetings or hmmm did you say "Organic" churches/fellowships/networks/gatherings/communes (people that worship in a house that was made to eat, sleep, bath and house and raise a family in) and send some people in our mega church (where God is not at because it is a building built and dedicated to Worship God in") to. I know several people that this would be a good fit for but they are the jumping, hollering, running around the building kind and it might be a bit small to run in - But I know some GOOD candidates for this and will encourage them to go and really get involved.
I AM FOR HOUSE Organic Oregano meetings & I think everyone there SHOULD NOT TITHE!

You still don't get it my dearest brother.

The issue is true discipleship and the "commandments of the Lord" given to us by Paul in I Corinthians 14. Jesus didn't call us to add members to an organization. Jesus called us to disciple. To disciple, you share life. Not just a couple ours two days a week. You bare your souls. There is nothing wrong with huge buildings. My church has an enormous campus. However, because we are a network of house churches, nearly 90% teaching, discipline, and discipleship takes takes place in our house churches. Each house church baptizes, marries, burries, and observes the Lord's Supper. Each house church is led by elders who are trained and properly licensed. It's estimated that nearly a 3rd of our membership within the network don't attend the weekly "gatherings" at the campus, they prefer the house church setting. And they are not required to attend the larger gatherings. It's a service to the body... not a service the body is beholden to.

The tithe is a debate that will rage far into the future. It's sad really. Had the Catholic Church not tried to revive the tithe to seize finances, we'd not be so divided.

[ThePastorsCoach]

You guys keep saying House Church like the House is the Church and we all know that buildings are not the Church but people are the Church! I wish you guys would get this right.
Slap your neighbor and say, A Church is not a Church because the People are the Church and a House is not a Church unless the House Church People say it is! AMEN! We all get it now!
Don't it just make you want to run from anything called a CHURCH and go a little house that is called a House Church where you can wear house shoes (or "no shoes" for that matter) and read the Bible and drink coffee and eat goulash and talk about those deceived people that go to buildings that are called CHURCH and how much better we are than them and teach them to STOP TITHING!
GO HOUSE CHURCH PEOPLE! GO! It just seems so exciting!